New Delhi announces special measures to fight notorious winter air pollution

A day after the Delhi High Court said living in the city was like “living in a gas chamber”, the Delhi government in a unique move mandated vehicles with odd and even numbers to be allowed to run only on alternate days to curb pollution.

Jain, who is also PWD and Health minister, said there is a need to take strict measures to clean the city’s toxic air and even-odd formula will also be applicable on all ministers and bureaucrats in the national capital region.

In October, Kejriwal took part in a cycle rally during a car-free day aimed at giving Delhi residents a brief breath of fresh air. We will experiment with it for some time. “And if Kejriwal and his government is concerned about this than they should hold serious consultation with the people of Delhi and with all the agencies in implementing this rule”, he added.

The rising levels of pollution and the court’s observation necessitated immediate action, Arvind Kejriwal said, speaking at the HT Leadership Summit. “This app will also be used to track down trash burning and polluting vehicles from now on”, said Kejriwal.

The temporary measures are seen as a desperate attempt to cut down alarming pollution levels during the winter months as cooler air and clouds trap pollutants creating a smoggy layer over the city.

The sweeping move, like the one adopted by Beijing in 2008 ahead of the Olympics, will apply to a large bulk of almost nine million vehicles registered in Delhi, which adds about 1,500 new vehicles to its roads every day.

In what the India Times has called a “bizarre solution” to air pollution, Delhi’s government decreed that vehicles would only be allowed to drive on alternate days depending on their number plate. “Because we wanted to redesign roads, fix public transport and bring in 10,000 new buses”.

That Delhi is among the most polluted cities in the world is indisputable – there were 88.27 lakh vehicles, including 27,90,566 cars and jeeps, in the national capital during 2014-15, more than the number of vehicles in all the other three metros put together. The Chief Minister said Euro 6 emission norms will be implemented in Delhi from 2017 as against Centre’s plan to make it mandatory from 2019.

“Erring vehicles will be penalised heavily”. He said Badarpur Thermal Plant near Delhi to be closed.

Will @ArvindKejriwal tell us how many extra trips will #DelhiMetro run to ensure less crowding to support #DelhiOddEvenLogic? “Some problems are political and some problems are constitutional”, he said. “If they have some factory and good idea to convert by some “jaadu” to Euro VI-all the best”, he said.